If you’re using Dropbox to store your personal documents and files, your free storage is limited to just 2 GB. The storage limit can be insufficient for many, and as we run out of it, we’re forced to pay more and upgrade our plan or delete some needed files.

Look no further, there are better ways to get back your lost storage and make room for new files. For example - You can dedupe your Dropbox cloud storage and eliminate duplicate files that you might have accumulated after syncing multiple devices at home and office. Duplicate files are a serious problem. They clog up not just local storage (such as SSD/ HDD, external drives) but also cloud storage space. The unneeded dupes can cause a lot of mess. Here, we’ve handpicked top 5 Dropbox Duplicate Finders to get rid of the problem.

1. Cloud Duplicate Finder

Cloud Duplicate Finder is a Web-based app that lets you find duplicate files from not just Dropbox, but also Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, Box Cloud, and Amazon S3.

• Fully Web-based. There’s no need to download or install any tool.
• You can access Cloud Duplicate Finder straight from your browser regardless of whichever operating system and device you use.
• Similar Photo Finder: Now, you can search for visually-similar photos in OneDrive and Google Drive (with plans to expand this functionality to other cloud drives in the future).
• Cloud Duplicate Finder accesses your files using the most secure way. It uses the official APIs from your cloud service company to gain temporary revocable permission to find and remove duplicate files. You can sign out any time, if you want.
• Custom files scan: You can either scan all files irrespective of their types or custom file types such as documents, images, videos, music, etc.
• Select the newest and oldest duplicates.
• Move duplicates to the Deleted files folder or move them to a separate folder on your Dropbox.

Cons:

• Requires an Internet connection.

2. Easy Duplicate Finder

Easy Duplicate Finder is another popular app. Unlike Cloud Duplicate Finder, Easy Duplicate Finder is a Desktop application that needs to be installed on your machine. After installing, you can find duplicate files by providing the required permissions in your Dropbox account.

• Secured integration with Dropbox using the official APIs. Easy Duplicate Finder will open the Dropbox website on your browser and you would be required to sign in. Once signed in, you would be required to paste the Authentication Code into the EDF application.
• Add multiple folders to scan for duplicates. You can drag & drop folders to the list box.
• You can also create a list of folders that you want to exclude from the scan. Just drag and drop folders to this area.
• By default, EDF scans all files irrespective of their types. You can change that if you want. For example: You can use the Include File Masks and Exclude File Masks dialog boxes to determine which file types to scan and which ones to exclude. You can add masks, edit masks or delete the existing ones.
• Easily find and filter items.
• EDF shows in-house file previews for your files.
• You can automatically select or deselect files using multiple selection methods. for example- all on this drive, all in this folder, keep the newest in each duplicate group, keep the oldest in each duplicate group, etc.
• Once you’ve selected the files, you can delete them or move to a separate folder on your Dropbox account.

Cons:

• Not a Web-based utility. Easy Duplicate Finder software needs to be downloaded.

3. Duplicate Files Fixer

Running low on storage? Stop upgrading your Dropbox plan everytime and fix the dupes to make room for new files. Although Duplicate Files Fixer is also a Windows-based app, there is no need to download any Dropbox files to your hard disk.

• Duplicate Files Fixer can find your Dropbox duplicates without requiring to download or install the Dropbox client software.
• Uses official APIs to securely access your cloud and find duplicates.
• Exclude Folder: Don’t want to scan specific folders in the duplicate scan? You can add them to the Exclude Folder list and they will not be scanned.
• Protect Folder feature.
• Sort files by sizes.
• Automatically select duplicates using different criteria such as date modified, file created, folder, size, file type format, etc.

Cons:

• Not a Web-based utility. Duplicate Files Fixer software needs to be downloaded.

4. Gemini 2 Duplicate Finder

Gemini 2 is a feature-rich duplicate finder for Mac. Currently, it is not available for Windows PCs. If you’re using Mac, you can dedupe your Dropbox library using Gemini 2 Duplicate Finder.

• Easy to use and modern interface.
• Gemini 2 continuously runs in the background and looks for duplicate files. As soon as duplicates are found, it will notify you.
• Gemini 2 contains learning algorithms that can keep your Macbook and Dropbox cloud storage dupe-free all the time.
• Drag and drop support.
• You can select duplicates manually or use the automatic selection methods to batch select them all at once. You can select which files to keep and which ones to not keep.
• Ability to find near-duplicates. Near-duplicates are files that don’t match 100%. There can be visually-similar images on your Dropbox that may be difficult to find, if tried manually.
• When it comes to scanning local hard disks, Gemini 2 moves your dupes to the Trash folder so you can restore them in the future (if required). You can also change this setting from the program settings to permanently delete the files and avoid an extra step.

Cons:

• Only Mac-based. No edition for Windows.

5. CISDEM Duplicate Finder

CISDEM Duplicate Finder can find and remove all types of duplicate files. It has a nice and intuitive UI.

• Easily drag and drop folders into the scan area.
• In-house file previewing.
• A Mac-version is also available.
• Ability to show specific file types only- for example documents, images, music, videos, archives, packages, and others.
• Your files are grouped together based on similarity.
• You can find files by their names and other parameters.
• CISDEM Duplicate Finder also provides similar files finding functionality. You can find files that are not byte-to-byte similar in nature.
• You can select images by different criteria such as newest, oldest, high-resolution images, low-resolution images, high-quality images, low-quality images, select by filename, select by priority, etc.

Cons:

• You must have the Dropbox client installed and set up in order to find duplicate files. You must also keep the Always keep on this device option enabled for your Dropbox folder.